I was up in the Sprint Tower press box for the Budweiser Duel races and saw an object — I thought it was a tiny UFO — zoom across the tri-oval.

I quickly realized it was a camera attached to a cable being used by Fox Sports and Speed to get a new perspective of Daytona International Speedway’s pit road and the tri-oval area of the 2.5-mile track.

The Fox UFO camera

When Fox got into NASCAR broadcasting in 2001, it brought along a fresh perspective of the sport. And since then, the network continues to raise the bar.

Coverage this year includes a collection of new cameras and graphics that are expected to add a dynamic new dimension to the viewing experience, including in-car Gyro-Cams, the FOX Super Zoom 4K camera, virtual 3D graphics and the return of a suspendedcable camera over the length of pit road.

Gyro-Cam: Gyro-Cam is a gyro stabilized, in-car camera mounted in the center of the cockpit that rotates as cars enter DIS’s extreme 31-degree banked turns, keeping its view level with the horizon at all times. The resulting look demonstrates to viewers just how dramatic Daytona’s turn angles are at race speed. Click here to see a simulation of Gyro-Cam in action.

FOX Super Zoom 4K: Introduced last year during FOX Sports’ coverage of MLB and the NFL, the 4K “Super Zoom” camera produces pictures with five times the resolution of normal HD cameras and captures the action at 300 frames per second. The resulting detail is remarkable and can zoom into an area of interest during the race with incredible detail.

VIZ-RT Encoded Camera: The VIZ-RT encoded camera graphically places three-dimensional virtual objects on screen. These graphics include delineating the “restart box,” where cars can accelerate toward the start/finish line during a restart and highlighting the entire track in yellow to emphasize that a race is under caution.

The crane that controls the UFO camera

CAMCAT: Supported by two gigantic cranes outside the track, CAMCAT is an advanced, two-point flying camera system developed in Austria that skies over the tri-oval along pit road. Previously used to cover F1 and certain Olympic events, the camera is suspended at a maximum 140 feet in the air and dips to 45 feet above the track at its midpoint. The cameras can speed up to 85 miles per hour along a 2,900 foot long cable to offer never-before-seen shots of Daytona. FOX first employed a four point cabled camera system over pit road from 2005 to 2007. All the cables were suspended within the track, and the camera traveled at 15 to 20 miles per hour 30 feet above ground.